Churches of Christ

Churches of Christ is a Congregationalist Protestant denomination of Christianity which is defined by autonomous churches associated with each other through similar beliefs and practices. The Churches of Christ had their origins on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century, believing in basing practices and doctrine on the Bible alone rather than recognizing the traditional councils, that Jesus founded only one church, and that the only basis for Christian unity was the Bible. The Churches of Christ lack denominational oversight, refuse to hold any formal statements of faith or creeds, govern themselves by a plurality of male elders, believe in baptism by immersion of consenting believers, weekly observe the Lord's Supper (Eucharist) on Sunday, offer open communion to all present, and sing praises without musical accompaniment as per New Testament tradition. The churches came to have 2,000,000 members in 40,000 congregations worldwide; 1,240 congregations were African-American and 240 were Hispanic.